the ups and downs of yo-yos

well, the yo-yos no body knows where it came from but people speculate about posible places where could have been made such as china 3000 years ago, greece around 500 BC and among maya on mexico yucatan penninsula about 700.A.D.
first appeared in india around1765. within few decades yo yos appeared in western europe only played by the high class. an example was vigge lebrun pictures the future king louis XVIII playing with yo yos. yo yos were fashionable simbols of wealth and made by precious stones. the name yo yos probably came from the toy jou jou de normandie, also it was called by british as the bangalore, the quiz and the incroyable. yo yos was used to relieve tension of nobles such as napoleon in his office on the eve of the battle waterloo in 1815.


another theory of the origin of  word yo yo is that it comes from tagalog which means comeback.in 1920a filipino named pedro flores, opened a factory that made wooden yo'yos. these yo yos were unique that  were first yo yos in which string was not tied to the axle.because the stringwas looped over the axle,the yo'yo, when thrown down, would spin, or sleep at the end of the string.

in 1929, the producction and sales of yo yos began on a grand scale. mr duncan a remarkable inventor and interpreneur  marketed the yo yos agressively. duncan ´s marketing strategies worked in his toy
(at first known as the o-boy  yo yo top boy) was a hit, later on the darkest year of great depression in usa duncan moved to winsconsin. yo yo sales reached an all time high in 1962, later duncan yo yos was sued by his competitors. they claimed yo yo was a generic name for this toy, the justice agreed and ruled competitor favor and through many television advertisingand the cost of paying worker overtime, duncan declared bankrutcy soon after, yo yo sales went down.

finally,the flambeau plastic company purchased the rights of duncan´s yo yo and douglas duncan jr son of the founder of duncan yo yo opened his own yo yo company, now know as playmax. high technology improvement allowed yo yos to sleep for long period of time.

well my point of view about yo-yo  is when i was a shy i used to play a lot with my friends and it was interesting the way they used tricks to sleep yo yos so we joined every afternoon to enjoy playing yo yo, but nowadays is mostly played by children as well they are practiced by adults in tournaments all over the world.



rigoberto alcantara100054323